El Paso County Pathologist pleads guilty to fleecing more than $1 million from Medicaid

A former speech pathologist in El Paso County pleaded guilty to fraudulently billing Medicaid more than $1 million, the state attorney general's office announced Nov. 29.

Tara Rose, of Beyond Words LLC, was sentenced to eight years in Colorado Community Corrections and 10 years of probation on felony theft charges. She was also ordered to pay $1.28 million in restitution to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

Rose received Medicaid funds for children's treatment sessions "that did not occur, and many of those patients had no relationship with Rose and had no idea who she was," according to a statement from the attorney general's office. She also billed Medicaid for treatments that were more frequent and extensive than those she actually provided.

"Medicaid fraud steals from Colorado taxpayers and diverts limited healthcare resources from the most vulnerable citizens of our state," Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is quoted in the statement. "My office will continue to aggressively prosecute any health care provider who engages in this type of criminal activity."